Video simulation images have emerged showing the final moments of the Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737-500 that crashed in Perm, Russia, illustrating that the aircraft entered a steep left roll from which it did not recover.

The simulation - which appears to have been released by the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK), the investigators of the accident - clearly reveals the instability of the aircraft's flight path at the time.

While the simulation shows daylight conditions, the flight was actually operating in darkness and cloud during the early hours of 14 September last year.

MAK concluded that the 737's crew became disorientated while trying to prepare the jet for its landing approach, and identified poor training, problems interpreting the flight instruments and a lack of crew resource management as being partly responsible.

Which way is up for Eastern and Western artificial horizons?ByDavid Learmount on February 11, 2009 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) |ShareThis

An Aeroflot-Nord pilot flying a Western-built aircraft - a Boeing 737-500 crashed on approach to Perm, Russia, last year because of disorientation. The official report says the accident was at least partly caused by the fact that the Western and Russian artificial horizons (AH) - alternatively known as attitude director indicators (ADI) - work on a completely different psychology.

This captain had spent most of his flying life using the Russian model and crashed using the Western one. Most psychologists argue that the Russian model is more effective. We'll look at why in a moment.

For a pilot properly trained on either AH, they are equally good at providing him/her with clear information about the aircraft's attitude relative to the real horizon when the latter is obscured by night or cloud.

But what if the pilot was brought up for years using the Russian format, then changes to the Western one? Normally no problem, but disorientation almost always begins with some form of distraction away from the instruments, and if the pilot looks back to the AH and sees an attitude he is not expecting, that's when the trouble can start.

Have a look at the picture above of the two AH types, both showing that the aircraft is in a 40deg bank turn to the right.